My strategies? Consistent, small habit changes. I am on a diet, but there's nothing temporary or unsustainable about it. Eating mostly fruits and veggies, only when I am genuinely hungry (no emotional eating) and only until I am satisfied (no gorging myself) and moving regularly for at least half an hour a day most days of the year. By having mostly health habits and listening to my body I am free from food guilt and restrictions, provided I am able to abide by a few simple guidelines.
There's no phases or maintenance, just consistent common sense and trusting my body's regulatory systems to do their job. It works SO much better for me than any other diet or counting program, and I'm losing more weight more easily than I ever have in my life.
- I drink mostly water with a cup or milk or soymilk some mornings.
- Always eat breakfast!
- Journal my food intake (no quantities, just food name), activity, and hunger/fullness cues
- Eat mostly fruits and veggies, and keep my diet as whole as possible (making things from basic ingredients without a lot of processed or modified food. NO diet food unless I actually prefer the taste to the whole alternative.)
- Stop eating BEFORE I feel engorged and eat SLOWLY to give my body time to feel full.
Not put a time limit on when I have to reach a certain goal. When I get there,I get there.
Do some sort of exercise 5x'sweek ,at least
Drink water, at least 50 oz daily
Stay w/in calorie limit
Learning not to turn to food when stressed. This is the hardest!
I'm only on my 3rd day of eating healthy - but here are my strategies for my weight loss. I lost like 30lbs a few years ago doing Turbo Jam and eating 1400-1500 calories. So I know what works for my body and what doesn't. I also know that if I throw myself a bone here and there, I won't be able to keep up with healthy eating.
~Exercise: 45m to an hour 5 to 6 times a week.
~I am switching over to a mostly un packaged food diet. I am cooking / making almost all my meals at home.
~I am focusing on getting plenty of veggies and fruits into my diet. I am also getting more nuts in as well.
~BREAKFAST! I never eat breakfast - but I am working on getting a good dense breakfast in the morning.
~Cutting out night snacks and unnoticed grazing. If I do need a night snack, it is a fruit, veggie, nut or yogurt.
~One meal out a week. I will allow myself one "free" meal a week in where I can eat anything I want. I need to be able to do this, so I won't feel deprived. This will most likely be pizza.
~No more fast food, deep fried crap.
~Planning meals in advance. I don't make weekly meal plans, but I do plan what I want each day, the night before.
Eat a reasonable number of calories.
No binging (It's amazing how much weight one can lose when they aren't consuming thousands and thousands of calories a day in crap).
Walking.
Well first of all I don't diet anymore, I try to make healthier choices and move more. I have a partner that is supportive and I daily check in with them to confirm my food plan. Together we plan evening meals weeks in advance and keep a log of fitness goals (June was a crazy month and we didn't have our meeting, we will get back on track this week). So food looks like this:
3 meals and up to 2 snacks (I usually just have 1) calories are watched and I do not go below 1200 or above 2000
Started off walking and I still try to walk 3-4 days per week (combination of 3 mile trails, and 1.5 mile path at work)
I am on a 12 week bike tour training plan, so I bike 3-4 days per week at the end of the biking we will add strength training to the walking and biking, and then flexibility and so on
My expectation is my weight loss is slow and permanent. People who know me have watched me bounce all over the place! At the end of my divorce in Feb I spiked up again around 224 lbs, so I feel good about what I am doing and I my body? I feel great, trick knees and all.
PS. I no longer define my journey by my eating disorder (EDNOS) but instead by my choices and my acceptance. It is what it is and I am accountable for it.
The biggest one for me is not demanding immediate perfection. Or even eventual perfection. I am an imperfect person who obviously has issues with food, so I've got to work with who I am from where I am.
- Eat mostly whole foods that I like.
- Plan what I eat. At work I have a food routine, complete with times, to avoid boredom eating. Weekends are more flexible. Count calories to check.
- Make it easy! Some weeks I eat subway six times, because I just can't be bothered. It's not perfect, but it's better than the alternatives.
- Don't let myself feel deprived. When I feel deprived, I eat, so I have to be careful to treat myself well.
- Don't eat my emotions, face them. When my food is going out of whack, I'm generally ignoring something. I'm slowly getting better at recognising this. Slowly.
- When hit with an intense, unignoreable desire to binge, try to find something else to replace the high. Buy a book or a dvd or more tea or clothes or have a bubble bath. Anything that doesn't have negative repercussions, but still feels like a treat.
- With exercise, the habit comes before the intensity. Any exercise is better than none, and the more I do it, the easier it is.
Last edited by Couch; 07-02-2009 at 09:44 AM.
Reason: Forgot one
I am once AGAIN....seems like that is always what I am doing....starting on this journey. All of these strategies are great. Several have given me an insight as to what I need to incorporate. Here's to success...however you personally define it. For me--stay steady and consistant.
. Should have incorporated that one into my life years ago, make that decades. Oy.
